This is Paua

Christian Buchenau

Christian Buchenau

Partner

„TO WORK WITH HIGHLY CREATIVE AND DRIVEN MINDS IS WHAT INSPIRES AND CHALLENGES ME EVERY DAY.”

As a Partner and member of the founding team of Paua Ventures Christian is mainly responsible for structuring funding rounds and leading exit discussions. He serves on board for various companies out of the Paua portfolio and acts as a mentor for Microsoft Accelerator, Techstars and XY. He is frequently giving lectures on entrepreneurship, startups and VC-financing at LMU Munich.

Prior to Paua he had worked in M&A at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt and Vienna.

Christian holds a finance Master from EADA Business School, Barcelona.

Moritz Poewe

Moritz Poewe

Partner

„I’M FASCINATED BY ALL KIND OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND LIFE-CHANGING IDEAS PEOPLE BRING TO THE WORLD. I FEEL LUCKY TO SUPPORT THOSE IDEAS – AND THE FOUNDERS, TEAMS AND COMPANIES OF TOMMOROW.“

Moritz areas of responsibility involve strategic consulting to portfolio companies in particular when related to BI and IT structural topics as well as deal flow management. He is a constant sparring partner to CTOs of the portfolio companies providing guidance in IT processes. He supports companies in HR efforts by filling the pipeline and interviewing candidates.

Moritz is a former CTO of a leading nightlife and community platform in Germany.

Georg Stockinger

Georg Stockinger

Partner

“I AM A DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR AT HEART AND LOVE WORKING CLOSELY WITH FOUNDERS IN SOLVING BIG PROBLEMS. SEEING OUR COMPANIES GROW MAKES ME VERY PROUD OF THE VALUE THAT WE ARE HELPING TO CREATE IN OUR SOCIETY”

Georg joined Paua as a Partner in early 2016 and is serving on the board of various portfolio companies. Due to his past experience as a founder and entrepreneur, he enjoys working closely with founders and provides operational value add across the Paua portfolio. Among other geographies, Georg is leading the Southern European investments of the fund. In addition to Paua, he is active as a Mentor for various Entrepreneurship Associations (Startup Bootcamp, Founder Institute etc.) and holds guest lectures on Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital at ESADE Barcelona.

Prior to Paua, Georg had built and led various successful startups in in the eCommerce, Marketplace and SaaS area. He was Managing Director with Rocket Internet in Latin America and Consultant for McKinsey & Company.

Georg holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Graz University of Technology, an MSc in Finance from ESADE Barcelona, and an MA in Strategy & International Management from University of St. Gallen.

Federico Wengi

Federico Wengi

Partner

“WORKING WITH DRIVEN AND TOUGH ENTREPRENEURS HUMBLES ME GREATLY AND INSPIRES ME TO STEP UP SO THAT I CAN ADD VALUE TO THEIR COMPANIES”

Federico joined the team in 2013, became Partner at Paua Ventures in July 2018.

His main assignments include deal hunting, deal flow management, company building, financial modelling as well as internal development. He is a trusted sparring partner for CFOs/CEOs in portfolios. He is a spreadsheet guru and is actively blogging about VC and the Berlin tech scene.

Before joining Paua he worked as entrepreneur in residence at our portfolio company Flaconi. He has an M&A and corporate finance background at Deutsche Bank in London and Mediobanca in Frankfurt.

Federico holds a Master of Science in Finance from Bocconi University in Milan.

He completes the Rubik’s cube in about three minutes.

Björn Müller

Björn Müller

Associate

Björn is an Associate at Paua Ventures and joined the team in 2016 through our internship program.

He is focused on deal hunting, deal flow management as well lending a helping hand in portfolio management activities from marketing to business development. He is our web scraping ninja and PPTX veteran.

Before joining Paua, Björn worked for a Rocket Internet start-up and gained experience in Management Consulting for Financial Services, Retail and Insurance clients. His academic background is business in transportation.

Björn holds an MBA from ESADE Business School in Barcelona as well as a Master of Transport Management from The University of Sydney.

Björn is the only real Berliner in the team.

Anna Fishman

Anna Fishman

HR Business Partner

Anna joined Paua Ventures in 2017 as a HR Business Partner. In this function, she acts as central contact person and trusted sparring partner to all HR Managers and CEOs of Paua’s portfolio companies and cooperation partners, advising and supporting in both, strategic and operational HR topics.

Prior to Paua, Anna gained more than 6 years of experience as HR Generalist in the advertising and start-up industry, most recently as Head of Human Resources at BOOK A TIGER, always being passionate about talent management, recruiting and coaching.

Christophe Defforey

Christophe Defforey

Founder

“INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS VITAL TO BREAK OLD BARRIERS AND OPEN NEW DOORS TO A BETTER FUTURE“

Christophe is one of the founding partners at Paua Ventures. He is acting as an advisor and investor to the new fund.

Prior to Paua he had worked in Private Wealth and Marketing in the UK and France.

This is the Paua Story

The Beginning

The Paua story begins in 2009 in the heart of Munich. We defined our strategy and made the first investment with our own money. And then there was no turning back – the Paua journey had begun.

Why Paua

Paua is the Maori name for an iridescent sea shell. And similar to venture capital – every now and then you’ll discover a pearl.

Key Milestones

Paua´s first successful exit in 2012, the following move to Berlin and further exits such as Amorelie, Flaconi and JustBook reshaped our business. From access to opportunities and talent we ventured to closing our first institutional fund in 2015.

Beyond Financial Fuel

Our partners backing Paua are primarily entrepreneurs themselves and industry experts in their fields. It is in our DNA to provide more than capital. We strive for real partnerships and throw in everything we’ve got: From our experience in growing businesses to relevant product and tech expertise and our network of industry pioneers and veterans.

The Future

We will continue to invest in very talented entrepreneurs who are pursuing ambitious, challenging tasks. We will treat them with respect and hope for the best. And we have only just begun – want to shape the future with us?